2023-06-19 22:07:58
The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance launched the “Government Procurement for National Small and Medium Enterprises” index, with the aim of measuring the extent of the contribution of small and medium enterprises to government procurement for federal entities, and supporting the achievement of the national target, by raising the percentage of these projects’ contribution to government procurement to 10%, in accordance with the federal law. No. 2 of 2014 regarding small and medium enterprises. This came during the “Small and Medium Enterprises Session” event, which was organized by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, yesterday, in the presence of more than 40 federal entities in the country.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Abdullah Al Saleh, confirmed that «the Ministry of Economy adopted a vision to create a competitive and stimulating business environment for small and medium-sized companies in the country, and encourage them to expand and grow, as the ministry launched a government procurement program within the initiatives of the National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises, with the aim of enhancing the contribution of small projects. And medium in government tenders and procurement offered by the federal authorities, and enabling the citizens of the country to enter the markets and compete and address the procurement as it is one of the most important means of support because it provides the acquisition of experience for the owners of projects, and enhance their benefit from the offers and incentives available to them ».
He said, “Work will begin to implement the new indicator during the first quarter of 2024, in cooperation with the concerned federal authorities, as it will focus on measuring the performance of the federal authority donating government procurement and being able to follow up on the extent to which it has achieved the target in particular and of the participating authorities in general.”
Al Saleh added: “National work continues to raise the contribution of small and medium enterprises to 10% in government procurement for federal agencies, especially since there are more than 557,000 small and medium companies in the country, and the small and medium enterprises sector contributed 63.5% in the GDP.” The total non-oil state for the year 2022 ».
Al Saleh said, in a statement to “Emirates Today”, that “the total number of small and medium enterprises registered in the National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises and Enterprises so far has reached 4,000 companies, while companies supplying government procurement have reached regarding 300 companies owned by citizen entrepreneurs and are of the same proportions.” The few that are being worked on to raise them in greater proportions during the coming period.
He pointed out that «the value of government purchases for small and medium enterprises amounted during the past year to regarding 30 million dirhams».
He stated that “the ministry is working to launch integrated plans and programs to support the contribution of small and medium enterprises to government procurement, in a manner that enhances the contribution of citizen entrepreneurs to the national economy.” Raising awareness among small companies through holding various workshops and meetings across the country, and discussing opportunities to develop incentives and honoring the most committed and contributing companies in procurement.
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Younis Haji Al-Khoury, said: “The Ministry of Finance is keen to contribute to advancing the national economy and support innovative entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises, as the ministry provides them with a number of advantages, including granting a price preference of 10% to this category of suppliers when evaluating government tenders, and the addition of a distinctive mark to the products and services of small and medium enterprises, in addition to the exemption from providing a guarantee of good performance and replacing it with the reservation of amounts from invoices payable.
Al-Khoury added, “SMEs face three main challenges. It is represented in the huge volume of tenders compared to these companies, the abundance of financial solvency, and the energy and production capacity required to meet the requirements of tenders. All these challenges constitute important opportunities for the growth and development of small and medium enterprises, if they are managed optimally.
• The value of government purchases for small and medium enterprises amounted to 30 million dirhams during the past year.
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